Fulfilling the Promise of Small High Schools

Abstract

Small high schools offer the kinds of environments we need if we are to try out some of our newer ideas in school redesign, Mr. Myatt argues. States and districts should pay attention to what these new institutions are making possible. SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS are big news, and rightfully so. They are showing us new ways to provide the social and emotional structures needed to support high achievement. Moreover, if we are open to learning from them, they can help us think differently about curriculum, assessment, and standard setting and can contribute much to the renewal of the teaching profession. Whether it's creating small neighborhood schools, scaling up successful national models, or implementing the small learning community conversion strategy to help our large comprehensive high schools become kinder and gentler places, the small high school movement offers a welcome window on the future of secondary education. For decades, the American high school has remained insulated from new ideas and reasoned changes by a thicket of extraordinarily interlocked statutes, regulations, college admissions policies, and contractual agreements, as well as by our society's own myths and revisionist memories. There is growing consensus, however, that many of the new, highly functional small schools are more trust- and community-oriented, with staff members who are freer and more likely to carve out new working relationships, design new systems, and set different priorities. This agreement to co-construct new schools from within offers unprecedented opportunities for the long-overdue redesign of our high schools. Initiatives such as those funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are banking on this premise. The planners of small schools have also begun to change the conversation from per pupil to per graduate. Small high schools cost a bit more up front, but there is no shortage of data and experience showing that funding a completed education is much more cost-effective than dealing with the poverty, unwanted pregnancies, crime, and unemployment that too often accompany life on the margins. The pressure on inner-city schools to address social inequities remains enormous, but few large high schools, in their planning and priority setting, have shown the ability to respond to the real needs of students and families. Featuring small houses, well-developed advisory programs, the looping of students and teachers over several years, and proven community engagement strategies, small high schools can reduce the frequency of negative behaviors both in and beyond school by creating intimacy and deep relationships with students. These are nimble institutions, committed to and capable of providing the care and concern that today's students and families require. Small, responsive schools are, quite simply, more likely to keep students until they finish the coursework required for a diploma and to help them leave high school with authentic skills and realistic plans for the future. Beyond the growing public awareness of the Columbine effect of alienation and unhealthy social stratification in many large schools, there is abundant evidence that small high schools are better at creating and sustaining the healthy intellectual and social climates needed for the richest kinds of teaching and learning. Small school size is consistently linked to positive outcomes in school climate, test scores, college attendance, and postsecondary employment. Qualitative studies of smaller schools have observed a genuine sense of belonging for both students and teachers, higher expectations for student engagement, and fewer distractions within the learning environment. These are precisely the conditions under which teachers can help students take greater responsibility for their own learning and establish both the culture and tools of inquiry-based instruction. Small high schools, tied strongly to their neighborhood institutions, are becoming deft at inviting community business and higher education partners into the schools on a regular basis to help teachers and students tune their work and to assist in developing performance rubrics that align with workplace and college standards. …